Getting Started

To start FIV, simply type ‘fiv’ at the command line prompt on any of the IAC’s Sun workstations. A number of command line options are available and are discussed below. The most critical options are ‘-a’ and ‘-s’ – they’re used to specify the activation and structural files that you want to view. For example, to view an activation file called ‘act.4dfp.img’ overlaid on the structural image file ‘struct.4dfp.img’, type the following at the command line:

Prompt> fiv -a act.4dfp.img -s struct.4dfp.img

Since you’ll almost always want to specify these image files, FIV includes some shortcuts for simplifying the call. If you omit –a and –s, FIV assumes that the first argument is the activation file and that the second is the structural file. So the following command is identical to the previous one:

Prompt> fiv act.4dfp.img struct.4dfp.img

Also, if you leave off the .4dfp and/or .img extensions, FIV fills them in. So the following command is identical to the previous two:

Prompt> fiv act struct

Additionally, a default structural image is used if one is not specified at the command line.

To view only a structural file, issue the following command:

Prompt> fiv -s struct.4dfp.img

Again, the file extensions can be omitted, but the -s must be included.

Please be aware: File formats are discussed more below, but note that FIV works with 4dfp stack files, not bfloat files and not mosaic files. So don’t use sl2mgh or mosaic (or any other programs) to convert your images. This should cut out a few steps in your processing stream.